April 21, 2011

Residents in Lions Bay have spotted them. People in West Vancouver and on Bowen Island are talking about them. Then there are the boaters who have watched them play out in the waves.

Scientists are trying to figure out why the Pacific white-sided dolphins are back. But there’s speculation it can be partly contributed to a small group of marine enthusiasts and a fish.

This fish story starts in the early spring of 2006. West Vancouver resident John Matsen had been told herring were spotted around the Squamish Terminals. Historically, herring are no stranger to Squamish’s shoreline. In the mid-60s, 2,000 tonnes of the silver-coloured fish came up Howe Sound to spawn. But runoff from the community’s former wood preservative plant killed hundreds of thousands of them and by the 70s the herring had all but disappeared.